


As Few Men Dared To Dream

by anneapocalypse



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Background Character Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Fridge Horror, Gen, Plothole Fill, battle creek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-18
Updated: 2016-11-18
Packaged: 2018-08-31 17:41:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,730
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8587810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anneapocalypse/pseuds/anneapocalypse
Summary: EXIT INTERVIEW LOG - AUDIO TRANSCRIPTFREELANCER OPERATIONAL COMMAND FACILITYINTERVIEWER: COUNSELOR ❚❚❚❚❚ ❚❚❚❚❚SUBJECT: CROSS, JORDAN, PVTASSIGNMENT: FREELANCER SIMULATION OUTPOST 49





	

COUNSELOR: Welcome, Private. You are Private Jordan Cross. May I call you Jordan?

CROSS: O-okay. Are the others here too?

COUNSELOR: There’s no need to worry about them, Jordan. Please, make yourself comfortable. I just have a few questions for you about your deployment at Outpost 49B.

CROSS: Right. Well, I was—I was there with the first deployment, sir. Back when it was Captain Dodge. They flew us in on a Pelican, we had to jump, parachute into the canyon. It was pretty small. They told us at Command that our orders were to secure both bases, but uh… the Reds were already there when we arrived. We had to uh, drive them out of one of the bases—Captain tossed in a smoke grenade, no kills but we cleared ‘em out and moved in. Cap said they’d be dug in over at the other base. That it’d be harder. We thought we’d just storm the place, take it all at once and call it a day. But the Captain said to wait for further orders. So we did.

COUNSELOR: And what orders did you receive, Jordan?

CROSS: They came within a day or two, maybe. No contact with the Reds during that time. They’d retreated inside—Captain was right, they were dug in. Expecting us probably. But then the new orders came. Capture the enemy’s flag. Defend our own flag at all costs.

That was about five years ago.

COUNSELOR: And what happened then, Jordan?

CROSS: We were planning an assault on Red Base. Pretty straightforward. Kill everyone, get the flag. It was—the canyon was real small. We were boxed in. You’d be seen trying to flank. They’d know we were coming either way, so we decided on a frontal assault. But we never got a chance. The Reds hit us first. Exactly how we were gonna hit them. We saw them coming—like I said, you can see everything in that canyon, no real cover. We charged out to meet them head on. There were—there were a lot of casualties that day. On both sides. We lost half the team. Captain called the retreat, and the Reds were retreating too.

So we pulled back to base, dug in. By the time we poked our heads out the next morning, they—the bodies—they were gone. Reds must’ve taken our dead, the bastards.

COUNSELOR: I see. Please, continue.

CROSS: Well—not a lot happened after that for a while. We holed up to regroup. Command dropped us a rookie or two, to replace the people we lost. Orders stayed the same. Protect the flag at all costs.

We kept a watch around the clock. Kept a lookout on the roof, watching Red Base. Sometimes they’d take a shot, or we would, but… they didn’t attack again. We didn’t either. Went on like that for a while.

But then some new ordnance came in from Command, and things changed.

COUNSELOR: How did things change, Jordan?

CROSS: Well, it started with rockets. Before that we had rifles, pistols, shotgun or two, a sniper rifle, standard loadout. Then we get a pod drop and there’s this rocket launcher. None of us had any heavy weapons training. Nobody knew how to use the thing. _[Nervous laughter.]_ C-Carlsson picked the thing up, almost took out the Captain. But we thought we could learn. And then we thought—maybe we could get the Reds’ flag now. Complete our mission.

But maybe the Reds had one too. You know?

And well, turns out they did.

COUNSELOR: What happened then?

CROSS: The Reds attacked. The same day. We weren’t prepared, we—we didn’t know they’d come so soon. They had rockets too. Killed two of us before we even knew what happened. The Captain and the rookie that almost shot him. Thought they had the jump on us. Like they knew how to use it. Maybe… maybe we were wrong. Just got scared. Maybe they were just lucky.

But what—what choice did we have? They were killing us. We had to fight back. We had our orders, we had to get that flag back.

COUNSELOR: Tell me about that.

CROSS: It was—it got real bad. New recruits would come, die, get replaced within the week. Within the day, after a while. Then within the hour. Like they just… had ‘em lined up right over our heads. Waiting to drop ‘em in. Got to the point you didn’t bother learning the rookies’ names, until they’d survived at least a week. Most didn’t.

COUNSELOR: And the flags?

CROSS: God, it was… constant back-and-forth. They’d take ours, we’d take theirs, stalemate for a while, we’d get ours back, hold both for a day or two, they’d storm our base, get one, get both… you get the idea.

Then we got a new shipment from Command, and everything changed again.

COUNSELOR: What was in that shipment, Jordan?

CROSS: It was ammo. Just ammo. Looked normal. But it wasn’t. People would get shot, go down. Stay down. Until everyone was dead except the one holding the flag. But then… the reveille would sound. And everybody’d get back up again. I thought it was like that stuff, you know, for training? The paint stuff?

COUNSELOR: You are referring to lockdown training rounds.

CROSS: Yeah, that. Stuff they’d prank the rookies with back in basic, make a guy think he got shot? Stings like a bitch. Everybody’d have a good laugh. Took one in neck, myself. Hurt to move my head for a week. But these weren’t… well, I don’t know. They looked normal. Not paint. Maybe it wasn’t the ammo after all. People started saying it was the flag.

COUNSELOR: The… flag?

CROSS: Yeah. Like if you protected the flag, you did your duty, it would like… protect you. _[Sigh.]_ I know how it sounds, sir. But sometimes somebody would get shot, wouldn’t get back up. And they all said it was like… they betrayed the flag, somehow. They didn’t protect the house.

COUNSELOR: Please… continue.

CROSS: They started sayin’ if you touched the enemy flag, if you captured it… you couldn’t die. Your own flag alone couldn’t protect you forever, you had to get both… Most of the skirmishes just… stalemated. Everyone would shoot each other, reveille would sound, we’d all get back up. So we organized. Strategized. But the Reds were always doing the same. They kept getting the jump on us. We had to get to them first. We had to…

_[A pause.]_

It was bad… we radioed Command, told them we needed help. Not just some rookie. Real help.

They responded. We got this special forces person. A… freelancer.

COUNSELOR: A freelancer? Tell me about this freelancer.

CROSS: Purple armor, really odd. But… nice. Told us he was gonna protect us. _[Deep breath.]_ That everything would be okay.

COUNSELOR: And how did that go, Jordan?

CROSS: Okay at first. Guy was a sniper. Took the roof. Kept the Reds at a distance for days, right? But it didn’t—it didn’t last.

COUNSELOR: Why was that, Jordan?

CROSS: They got a freelancer, too.

COUNSELOR: Tell me about that.

CROSS: She was… she was almost the same. Tall, purple armor, green accents… _[Nervous laugh.]_ Didn’t know they made armor like that, with more than one color. But anyway. It scared us, we couldn’t tell ‘em apart. They were almost the same color, depending on the light, and she—did something to her voice. Sounded like our guy. She was tall, looked the same, we thought… we let her get inside. Then she killed half our team. Took the flag.

The next morning they were both gone. Both freelancers. They just pulled out without a word. Left us. And those soldiers the freelancers killed, they… they didn’t get up again.

_[A long pause.]_

We never called for help again after that.

COUNSELOR: I see. And no more freelancers came after that?

CROSS: No, they… some more came. From time to time. Even though we didn't call. But we never worked with them. We knew what their help meant. We didn't want that. It was better to trust the flag.

COUNSELOR: And what happened after that?

CROSS: The fighting never stopped, it was the same cycle over and over, but at least… at least you had hope, you know? That if you tried hard enough, defended your base, did your duty… the flag could protect you.

_[Pause.]_

I… I had it once. The flag.

COUNSELOR: Tell me about that.

CROSS: Honestly, it’s kind of all a blur. I know we had a plan, who would cover and who would run and all that but things kinda… fell apart in all the chaos. That happened a lot. I was near Red Base, I could see inside… I could _see_ it, you know? Sitting right there. And I knew… if I could just touch it.

I didn’t think. I just ran for it, you know? And then it was in my hands, and…

Well, I don’t remember anything after that. They tell me a Red got me with a shotgun right to the head. Never saw it coming. Didn’t even have time to think I was done for. _[Nervous laughter.]_ Woke up… pounding headache. Could barely move for a day or two. But then… I was okay. Was fine. I know it sounds crazy, but… the flag. I don’t know. But it could be true. I mean… I’m still here, right?

COUNSELOR: Yes indeed you are, Jordan. Is there anything else you can tell me?

CROSS: Nah, I… I guess not, sir. You know about the rest. _[A long pause.]_ The rest of my team… they wake up yet? _[Swallow.]_ I mean… those gray suits, the Recovery agents, they got there before the next reveille. You-you’ll tell me when they wake up, right?

COUNSELOR: You don’t need to worry about them, Jordan. I assure you they’re all in secure hands.

CROSS: Oh. Okay. So… does this mean I'm going home?

COUNSELOR: We’ll be providing your transportation as soon as we complete your exit processing. These men will escort you. Thank you for an illuminating interview, Private.

* * *

 

 **NOTES:** At isolated outposts, insular customs and aberrant behaviors may sometimes be observed. Cf. Outposts 4, 15, 32. Groundside Operational Command is to continue with supply shipments according to current orders until further notice.


End file.
